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Q&A: Olszewski and Redmer on the issues
At nearly 600 square miles in area and with an estimated 830,000 population, Baltimore County is the region’s largest jurisdiction in both size and people power. Surrounding Baltimore City on three sides, it has enormous impact on the lives of everyone in the metropolitan area. The county will also have new executive leadership in the […]
CMS reverses course, will make risk adjustment payments to insurers
A federal agency has reversed its decision earlier this month to stop collecting and making risk adjustment payments to health insurers, announcing it would reinstate the payments. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services had said they would top making the payments in light of contradictory federal court rulings about the risk adjustment program, a […]
Olszewski wins recount in county executive race by 17 votes
Former state delegate Johnny Olszewski Jr. has maintained his razor-thin margin of victory in a recount of the Democratic primary race for Baltimore County executive.
Maryland regulator evaluating CMS risk adjustment decision
Maryland health insurance stakeholders face some questions after the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said over the weekend that it would stop collecting and making risk adjustment payments in light of contradictory federal court decisions. Maryland Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer said at this point there is some uncertainty as to how the decision would affect […]
Before reinsurance, significant premium increases sought on Md. individual market
Insurers on Maryland’s individual health exchange are proposing to raise their rates by an average of more than 30 percent, as hopes for stabilizing the market increasingly depend on the state’s application for a reinsurance program. The increasing rates could continue to make insurance more unaffordable for many Maryland families and force more healthy people […]
Experts say Md.’s new reinsurance initiative a short-term fix
Gov. Larry Hogan approved one reinsurance bill adopted by the legislature and a second reinsurance bill gained final passage Thursday, but these measures likely remain short-term solutions to the state’s individual health insurance market woes. A reinsurance program will likely limit the significant premium increases Maryland has seen over the past couple of years, but […]
Md. consumers without subsidies left behind in ACA debate
Maryland’s uninsured rate under the Affordable Care Act has dropped to 6 percent, but people who make too much money for tax credits have found themselves on the outside. Susan and Jeff Frangione lost well-paying jobs with good benefits during the recession. Now, Susan Frangione, 58, works as the government/fleet specialist for a Montgomery County […]
Md. regulator approves increased health insurance rates for 2018
Maryland Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer Wednesday approved amended rates for the 2018 insurance market that will increase premiums for silver-level plans of the state’s health exchange as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to halt cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments to insurance companies. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield HMO consumers with silver plans on the exchange[...]
Md., insurers say amended rate-hike plans would have limited impact
Decisions made by the Maryland’s insurers and regulators could prevent most consumers from being significantly affected by President Donald Trump’s decision to stop paying cost-sharing reduction subsidies to insurance companies. CareFirst and Kaiser Permanente have filed amended rate requests with the Maryland Insurance Administration to help recoup some of those damages. But they are doing [&[...]
Trump’s health care order faces a rocky road in Maryland
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that he hopes leads to lower health insurance premiums, but Maryland’s top insurance regulator is questioning whether the order would work in this state. The thrust of Trump’s order instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to look into ways to increase competition, primarily by allowing the […]
Burrell to retire from CareFirst next year
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield President and CEO Chet Burrell will retire from the insurer next year, the company announced Friday. Burrell has held the role with the company since December 2007 and will leave in the middle of 2018. “A decade of service to the mission of CareFirst has, for me, passed quickly,” Burrell told CareFirst […]
Study: Employer insurance market remains stable
Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums rose just 3 percent this year, drawing a sharp contrast with the instability of the individual health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. Overall, the average family premium on an employer plan this year was $18,764 — typically split between employer and employee — according to the Kaiser Family […]
